The present invention relates generally to practice tees for supporting a ball at a selected elevation as a target to be struck at by some object such as a bat and more particularly to such tee structures having a flexible recoverable shaft for supporting the ball.
People, especially small children, require a simple tee to support a ball as a stationary target in order to learn a correct bat or a racket swing. Often portions of the tee are impacted instead of, or in addition to, the ball it supports. In tennis, danger of damage to the strings and racket frames has precluded the practical use of prior tees in tennis practice.
Conventional ball support tees are generally formed of a resilient material of high density. When impacted, these tees may either break or recoil with nearly an equal opposite force. Therefore, such tees present a difficult and uncertain safety problem.